A former Twitter executive – now known as X – has been awarded a record compensation of €550,131 by the Workplace Relations Commission (Ireland’s Employment Tribunal), for unfair dismissal in Ireland.
Mr Gary Rooney, employed by Twitter since 2013, failed to respond to an email titled “A Fork in the Road,” from Elon Musk shortly after his $44 billion takeover of the social media platform in October 2022.
Musk asked for hard-core employees and said: “This will mean working long hours at high intensity. Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade. If you are sure that you want to be part of the new Twitter, please click yes on the link below,” adding that staff who did not would receive three months’ severance pay.
Employees were given 24 hours to respond to the email. Mr Rooney did not respond and three days later, on 19 November, he received another email from the company “to acknowledge your decision to resign and accept the voluntary separation offer.”
The WRC adjudicator said that Musk’s 24-hour period for replying to his ultimatum was not reasonable notice, and concluded that Mr Rooney had not caused or contributed to his dismissal by failing to click “yes,” and that such a failure also did not represent insubordination or a breach of his contract.
The €550,131 award was made up of €350,351 for loss of earnings from January 2023 to May 2024, and €200,000 for potential loss of future earnings.
The contents of this post do not constitute legal advice and are provided for general information purposes only.
Associated photo designed by Freepik.
The contents of this post do not constitute legal advice and are provided for general information purposes only ■
